A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels — Volume 03 eBook

he had been carried away alive. Having sought
him in vain for an hour, we returned on board with
the water, to the infinite joy of our companions,
who were quite beside themselves on its arrival.
One man leapt into the boat immediately on its getting
along-side, and never ceased drinking till he died.
We next proceeded to a certain low island called los
Baxos de los Martyres, where our commanders ship
struck on a sunken rock, and took in so much water
that she was near sinking; indeed we greatly feared
that our utmost exertions at the pump could not bring
her into port. When two of our sailors, who were
from the Levant, were called upon to aid in pumping,
they calmly replied facetelo vos, or Do it
yourselves, when we were almost exhausted by fatigue,
and the ship on the very point of going down.
We compelled them, however, to fall to, and by the
blessing of GOD we got safe to the harbour then called
Puerto de Carenas, where the city of Havanna
has been since built. Our captain went immediately
to his estate near Spiritu Santo, where he
died in ten days, and three soldiers died of their
wounds at the Havanna, and the rest dispersed to their
different homes or avocations.

Immediately after our arrival, an express was sent
to Velasquez the governor of Cuba, informing him that
we had discovered a country having houses of stone
and lime, where the inhabitants were decently clothed,
cultivating maize, and possessing gold; and the fame
of our discovery was soon spread through the island,
by the soldiers and mariners who had returned from
the expedition. On producing the figures and idols
which we had brought over, it was believed that they
had been brought to that country by a Jewish
colony, flying after the destruction of Jerusalem by
Titus and Vespasian[2]. The name of Yucutan,
which that country we discovered acquired at this
time, was occasioned by the following mistake. Yuca
in the language of the country is the name of the plant
used in the islands for bread, there named cazabi,
and tale in the same language signifies the
heap of earth on which it is planted. When the
two prisoners whom we brought from thence were shewn
this plant in Cuba, they immediately recognized it,
saying Yucu-tal, which was supposed to signify
their country, and has ever since been applied by the
Spaniards to that part of America, but pronounced
Yucutan. They alleged likewise that their
country produced gold, or at least they were so understood,
but this has since been found not to be the case.
All that we soldiers got by this discovery, was to
come back poor and wounded, and thankful that we had
saved our lives, having lost seventy out of our small
number during the expedition. Diego Velasquez
wrote an account to his patron, the bishop of Burgos,
of all the particulars of this discovery, and the expences
he had incurred, by which he obtained fame and credit
from his majesty; but nothing was said in favour of
us poor soldiers, who had expended our property, and
risked our lives in the expedition.